After the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut, Bret Martin says something inside him changed.

It seemed young adults across the country were in over their heads, dealing with their parents' divorce, mental health issues and substance abuse without a place to turn for help.

So the Milwaukie man resolved to do something about it. Just days after the shootings, Martin quit his job and created Open Heart Prior to Alcoholics Anonymous, an organization that holds forums where young adults can talk openly in a group of their peers.

Though he owned financial businesses at the time, Martin said, "at 51, this is what I want to do."

Martin envisions Prior to AA to serve as a place where 18- to 25-year-olds – the age group that have committed recent mass shootings – can work out their life problems in an AA-type group before they hit rock bottom, hurt themselves or others.

Azumano Travel CEO Sho DozonoCourtesy of Bret Martin

To bring credibility to the new organization, Martin enlisted Azumano Travel CEO Sho Dozono to help raise funds and become a co-founder. "This could be the beginning of a national campaign to help young people before they do something stupid," Donozo said.

An organization such as Prior to AA is sorely needed because young adults in America are caught in a "perfect storm," Martin said. The recession left them mentorless and unemployed. High divorce rates means they're increasingly without parental guidance. Prescription medications are used as a band-aid to cover deeper problems.

All of these factors created a generation without a community to belong to, he said. "This is the most neglected age group in America," he said.